


In Between Shadows

by MajorTrouble



Category: The Witcher (TV), Wiedźmin | The Witcher - All Media Types, Wiedźmin | The Witcher Series - Andrzej Sapkowski
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Modern with Magic, Established Relationship, Halloween Flashfic, Into the Woods - Freeform, M/M, Survival Horror, University student geralt, flashfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-31
Updated: 2020-10-31
Packaged: 2021-03-08 22:20:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,265
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27313957
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MajorTrouble/pseuds/MajorTrouble
Summary: Geralt invites Jaskier to spend two months with him and his fellow master's student studying in the woods. Nothing is more romantic that being in a cottage in the forest, right?Or is it a cabin in the woods?
Relationships: Geralt z Rivii | Geralt of Rivia/Jaskier | Dandelion
Comments: 17
Kudos: 36
Collections: The Witcher Flash Fic Challenge: Halloween Special





	In Between Shadows

“Are you sure you know where you’re going?” 

“Yes, Jaskier.”

“But are you _sure_ you’re sure?”

_“Yes._ ”

“Humph.”

The woods around them were getting darker the further into the forest they moved. Jaskier decided it would have been terribly romantic if not for the creeping fog and the hanging moss. Eskel had decided to send him and Geralt out on their own first to the cottage deep in the temperate rainforest. Ostensibly it was to make sure the generator was still working and had enough fuel to last the two months they would be out there. Realistically Jaskier knew it was to get the two newly dating idiots out of his hair. 

So they’d set out early that morning, driving the old highway as far as they were able before turning off onto the logging road that took them to the beginning of the trail leading into the woods. The cottage itself was an hour’s hike in. It had been used as a ranger’s station for years until the university had been granted license to use it as an observation outpost to track and catalogue the migrating caribou herds. Geralt and Eskel would be staying there for the two months the herd was in the area this time, working on research for their respective theses. 

Jaskier had jumped at the chance to spend time in a secluded cottage in the forest. Getting away from the mundanity of city life and communing with nature had thrilled him. Geralt had been skeptical of his ability to do without his espresso machine for an entire two months, but Jaskier had shown him family photos of camping trips with his gaggle of cousins and the older man had been mollified, if not entirely convinced. 

And now here they were, traipsing through the steadily growing darkness, on their way to a romantically secluded cabin that they’d have to themselves for four whole days before Eskel was scheduled to join them. 

If they could find it.

It was taking all of Jaskier’s extremely thin patience to not whine about being lost in the woods. _This is the way horror movies start,_ he thought nervously to himself. Adjusting his frame pack, he glanced around them again, nearly tripping over his own feet as a figure flitted through the trees to his left.

“Geralt!” his sharp call had the other man spinning around immediately, dropping into a defensive stance. Jaskier backed away from the edge of the trail and pointed. “I saw someone. There’s someone else in the woods.” 

Jaskier fidgeted as Geralt scanned the trees, both men listening intently for any sign of life. A tense few moments passed as they waited, but when nothing else happened, Geralt turned to look at him and cocked an eyebrow.

“I know what I saw,” Jaskier defended, nervously fiddling with the ends of the buckles on his pack. 

“Okay,” Geralt answered, still not relaxing. “It shouldn’t be much further. Come on.” He turned and, much to Jaskier’s surprise, started walking faster down the path.

Maybe he was being affected by the deepening darkness and silence of the woods, too. Jaskier shivered at the thought. Neither of them were small people, but getting jumped by anyone - _anything_ , his overactive imagination helpfully supplied - wasn’t something anyone enjoyed. Jaskier lengthened his stride to match his boyfriend’s and hurried along the path. 

They reached the cottage not long after, and Jaskier was taken aback by the rusticness of it. Horizontal planks of wood made up the exterior walls, and the peaked roof was covered in sod as well as not a few twigs and branches that had fallen from the nearby trees. Inside, however, to his immense relief, there were some modern elements, including a reasonably well-maintained kitchen, and three tiny bedrooms. To his utter horror and dismay, the bathroom turned out to be an entirely separate building three giant strides from the side door. 

Geralt grinned at him when he pointed this out. “Just don’t drink too much before bed,” he countered, reasonably. Jaskier huffed in response and scowled. 

At least both kitchen and bathroom-building had running water. An incredible luxury so far into the woods. “Natural aquifer,” Geralt explained, pointing to the top of a well-hidden mound behind the cabin. “And there’s a filtration system that was installed with the bathroom. ‘S why it’s a separate building.”

The university had clearly done some significant upgrades since the building’s original inception. 

While Geralt got the generator working and checked the fuel supply, Jaskier started unpacking the half of the provisions they’d brought with them. Eskel would be providing the rest when he showed up, but for now they had a reasonable supply. Digging through cabinets and drawers, he managed to find enough utensils and plates to spread out their meal of bread, cheese, and cured meats. Carefully unwrapping it from the very top pocket of his pack, Jaskier produced a bottle of wine, and then proceeded to panic for five minutes when it became clear the kitchen did not contain a corkscrew. Giving it up as a lost cause, he resorted to his tried and true method and popped the cork into the bottle with a screwdriver and a lot of swearing. 

No one had ever accused him of having class.

By the time the generator was up and running, Jaskier had scoped out the bedrooms and claimed the largest of the three as theirs. He’d put the supply packs in the smallest, reasonably assuming that, since no one else was coming, it was practical to use it as a storage room. Geralt wandered back in, flicking on a few lights as he went, and seated himself at the small kitchen table, pouring them both a glass from the wine bottle. 

“You know I have a corkscrew on my multitool, right?” he grinned as Jaskier came to join him.

“Oh fuck off. I made do.”

“Hmm.”

It was fully dark by the time they were done with dinner and Geralt cleared away the dishes. Jaskier was nervously shifting his weight from foot to foot, looking out the window set into the side door. He startled when Geralt touched his shoulder, leaning in to kiss his cheek. 

He held up a flashlight. “Do you want to go together?” 

Jaskier sighed, shoulders slumping and head dropping down. “Yes please.” 

Geralt refrained from laughing as he led them out the door and across the tiny side yard to the out building. Inside was a dormitory-style shower stall, two utilitarian looking sinks, and another stall containing the toilet. 

“I feel like I’m back in high school,” Jaskier quipped as he headed for the toilet. The door slammed shut behind him as he swung it with too much force, causing them both to jump. “Sorry! Fuck that’s annoying. Uh, can you turn the water on our something? This is weird.”

He listened as Geralt laughed softly under his breath and then turned to the sinks and started fiddling with the knobs. Sluggishly, the water started pouring out of the faucet, masking any other sounds in the poorly lit room. After taking turns in the toilet stall, and then deciding to wait till morning to use the shower, they headed back towards the cabin. 

As soon as the door to the out building closed behind them, Jaskier froze. All the hairs on the back of his neck were standing on end and it felt like something was squeezing the air from his lungs. Looking up, he could just make out a figure standing on top of the cabin, arms stretched out towards him. An ice cold wind swept down between the cabin and the bathroom, sending goosebumps and shivers racing across his skin. He couldn’t speak, couldn’t breathe, couldn’t take his eyes off the figure reaching for him from the roof. 

A growl from behind him seemed to break his trance. The firm hand between his shoulder blades shoved him in the direction of the cabin door, but not before he caught sight of the flickering figures flitting amongst the trees. 

“Geralt,” he all but whined. 

“Get in the cabin. Don’t look back!” 

“Geralt!” Jaskier tripped as he burst through the door, noticing fearfully as the lights flickered around him. He landed hard on his knees but quickly flipped over to yell at Geralt again, but the other man was gone, and in his place stood a tall creature with long, thick limbs, its torso clothed in torn black fabric that may have once been a dress. At the end of what appeared to be its arms were grotesquely curved talons and in the uneven light, Jaskier could see something dripping from them. 

“Oh fuck,” he whispered, using his elbows and heels to crawl quickly backwards further into the room. The head and face of the creature - _was it a creature? It stood look a person, but nothing had claws like that_ \- was obscured by a ragged curtain of matted grey hair that hung past its shoulders. Outside, he could still hear the wind whipping around the edges of the cabin, and on top of that the new sound of the generator starting to sputter. 

Where the fuck was Geralt?

As if summoned by this very thought, the other man rushed past Jaskier and threw something into the face of the creature, causing it to flinch backwards, raising its clawed hands to its face. It stepped back and that was enough for Geralt to throw the door closed and lock it. Jaskier watched as he knelt down, trailing a thick line of something across the lintel. The wind outside instantly ceased blowing. Once he was done, he looked back at Jaskier, glaring furiously.

“I told you not to look back.”

Jaskier’s eyes widened. “That’s what you’re getting out of this? Are you being fucking serious right now? And what does that - “ 

He was cut off by the unearthly sound of laughter. Children’s laughter, ringing loud and carefree through the forest. The two men looked at each other for a long moment before both stood slowly. Their shadows danced like puppets in the sporadic light of the flickering lamps and Jaskier had the hysterical thought that those weren’t really their shadows at all.

A voice that sounded much like playing a record backwards filtered through the cabin. It was neither high nor low, and sounded completely inhuman, for all that the words were understandable. “ _There is a toll to be paid to trespass here. But knowingly violating our pact means death, Witcher._ ” 

Jaskier looked over at Geralt, brow furrowed in confusion. “Wha - “ he started but the other motioned with his hand for him to be quiet. 

“I knowingly did nothing,” Geralt said quietly. “What is the toll? I will pay that for all who come to these woods.” 

“ _Too late,”_ the voice spoke again. _“A life for a life. The rules were set by your kind, and you must abide by them._ ”

“I’m not following rules I knew nothing about. You can’t expect the ignorant to be sacrificed for their lack of knowledge,” he countered. 

Was Geralt _bargaining_ with whatever faceless entity was threatening them? Jaskier was absolutely certain his eyebrows couldn’t raise any further into his hairline, but there they were. There was silence for several long moments. Just as he opened his mouth to ask Geralt what the fuck was going on, the voice spoke again.

“ _Ignorance is no excuse. But you may take your pet and leave unharmed at first light if you swear never to return.”_

“Pet!” Jaskier squeaked before Geralt glared him into silence again. 

“I agree to these terms. But there will be others who come here, to this cabin. Will they be expected to pay the toll?”

_“Only those sworn to the pact pay the toll,_ ” the voice intoned ominously. 

Silence followed this statement before the lights ceased to flicker and the generator chugged back to life. Jaskier watched as Geralt’s shoulders relaxed and he placed the container he was holding, which Jaskier suddenly noticed said SALT across the front, on the counter. The two stared at each other for a moment before Geralt huffed a breath and smiled. 

_What the fuck?_ “What the fuck?”

Geralt’s smile widened. “It thought you were my pet. It’s kind of cute.”

“Cute? Are we not going to address the fact that whatever it is threatened to kill one or both of us?” Jaskier started pacing, hands gesticulating as all the pent up energy he’d contained was finally able to be expressed. 

“Hmm. No. We’re going to leave at first light and… deal with that later. I have some research to do.” Geralt seemed far calmer about this whole encounter than he had any right to be. Which reminded Jaskier of something.

“And another thing: what is a Witcher?” He stood directly in front of Geralt now, arms crossed over his chest, eyes narrowed accusingly. The older man had kept things from him in the past, but this was new. And definitely weirder. 

Geralt tugged at his arms, uncrossing them, and bringing the slightly smaller man into his embrace. He kissed him, a light peck at first before deepening the kiss and causing Jaskier to bunch his hands in the other man’s shirt. He was panting when Geralt released him, licking his lips to taste the last traces of wine. 

“Don’t worry about it,” Geralt rumbled, pecking him on the nose before enfolding him further into his embrace. “I’ll explain in the morning. When we’re not being threatened by death from an ancient spirit of the forest.”

“A what?” Jaskier squawked. 

“Hmm.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank-you for reading!! <3


End file.
